


A Sense of Home

by orphan_account



Category: Pride (2014)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nail Bomb Attack, more pre-slash to be honest, really ooc Mike but he's traumatised so I have an excuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 01:41:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3156224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike goes out and gets caught in an attack. He ends up at Mark's in the middle of the night, although he's not sure why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sense of Home

**Author's Note:**

> Don't own - all characters based on the representations of people in Pride.
> 
> My dad was telling me that the gay bar he went to (long story) was nail bombed in the 90s. This sort of spawned from that.

Mark knew better than a lot of people that the gay bars weren't always the best place for, you know, being gay. They were easy targets. It was just an accepted fact. It didn't stop anyone from going - the possibility of picking some cute bloke up or even just drinking in a usually safe environment outweighed the risks in most people's lives. It was one of those things that no one ever expected to happen to you, and if anything did happen, it was likely to be minor. Of course the incident with Gethin made all of LGSM more wary, but it didn't really have a lasting effect on their attendance.

Mark also knew that gay bars weren't exactly Mike's 'scene', but he knew that he enjoyed the atmosphere on less busy nights.

Thus when there was an explosion in the middle of the night when Mike's at the bar, he didn't connect the scenarios. He figured somebody just let off a firework. So when Mike shows up at his flat an hour or so later, covered in blood, clutching his arm and looking, unnervingly, terrified, Mark was in the very least, surprised.

"Christ Mike! What the hell happened?" He pulled Mike into his flat, sitting him down in the kitchen.

Mike however, remained silent, staring at the floor. Mark crouched down in front of him. "Hey," he said softly. "Mike, come on. What happened?" He placed his hand on the side of Mike’s face.

Mike focused on Mark's face. "I, uh, I was at the bar." Mike said, visibly shaken. "I think it was a nail bomb."

Mark jerked back. "What?" He exclaimed. "Are you okay Mike?"

"I don't know.” Mike replied, apparently frustrated. “I mean, I don't think anything went in. Maybe some scraped past? I landed on my wrist though," he said in a thick voice.

Mark laid his hand on Mike's shoulder lightly. "We need to get you to a hospital."

Mike groaned. "No, not tonight. They'll ask me a load of questions I can't answer." Mark had never seen Mike this scared, and he found it verging on disturbing. Mike was normally a sturdy, emotionally stable figure. The fear in his eyes seemed out of place and unnatural.

"Okay," he went to one of the cupboards, opening it and pulling out a first aid kit. He let out a breathy laugh. "I only got this after you tripped into that door and have yourself a black eye. I realised how unprepared I was for anything." He walked over Mike again. "Can you take your jumper off? I need to have a look at where this blood is coming from."

Mike nodded, pulling his jumper off slowly, hissing when he jostled his wrist.

Mark laid the kit out on the table. "Okay," he started unbuttoning Mike's shirt. To the alarmed expression on Mike's face, he smiled slightly. "I need to have a look."  Mike's torso was covered in grazes and a few cuts. His side was completely bruised, and Mark assumed that was how he fell. He held back from reacting verbally, in both anger at whoever caused this and surprise at the extent of what had happened. "Okay," he said again. He began getting to work.

"Mark?" Mike asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Replied Mark, preoccupied.

"Can I stay here tonight? Only I don't want to..." he trailed off.

Mark smiled at him. "Of course. Do you think I would let you go?" He clapped his hands and stood up. "Right. I think that's as good as it's going to get to be honest, Mike. We'll go to bed. You can borrow a t-shirt and wear your boxers." Mark helped Mike to his feet and led him to the bedroom. He could tell Mike wasn't really paying much attention as he sat him on the double bed, handing him a shirt. Mike feebly put it on, whimpering slightly as his wrist moved. Mark's heart clenched. "I don't have a spare bed or anything, so you can sleep here and I'll stay on the sofa." He turned to leave.

"Don't. Please." Mike called after him quietly in a voice that he would describe as, if it wasn't Mike, as broken.

Mark nodded. "Just give me a minute." He went into the bathroom, taking off his trousers so that he just had a shirt and pants on. He went to the bed to lie next to Mike. He smiled in the other man's direction.

Mark realised fairly quickly that he wasn't going to sleep, but Mike needed him so he didn't feel getting up would help anyone. At about two o'clock in the morning, Mike was whimpering and shaking. Mark shook him lightly. Mike looked at him with alarmed eyes.

"People died, Mark," he sobbed.

"I know," he replied soothingly.

"I was there and I couldn't do anything. There was just screams and explosions and everything hurt. I just left." Mike paused. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I'm an inconvenience. Can't look after myself. Can't make my own decisions property. Like you said. Before."

"Mike, you know I didn't mean that. You've always been more responsible than me." He enveloped Mike in his arms with a certain degree of uncertainty, expecting Mike to pull away. He didn't, instead nestling into Mark's chest. "You're alright." Mark didn’t relax until Mike was asleep. After that, he sank into the embrace, heart warming in his chest. Despite the circumstances of their position, Mark felt like this was right, that this is the sort of thing they had been building to for a long time. He soon drifted off too.

In the morning, they went to the hospital. It was soon revealed Mike had sprained his wrist. They patched him up, and the police did ask him some questions (which he didn't answer). Mark sat with him the whole time. They left as quickly as they could.

"I think you should stay with me for a while, Mike." Mark said as they reached his flat.

Mike nodded. "Yeah."


End file.
